Cincinnati Football: Could UC Offensive Coordinator Eddie Gran Get Plucked Away This Offseason?

Say what you will about the warts on this football team but UC’s offensive coordinator Eddie Gran has called an exceptional season.

For all of the complaints I had about him last year, which culminated in perhaps the most grotesque coaching decision I’ve ever seen in the history of football at any level, Gran has made a stark turn around in 2015. The major issue I had with him, that nearly cost Cincinnati that game against East Carolina, were those brain farts during games. You know, usually when UC was cruising along running their normal offense and simply needed to lean on their superior strategy and talent.

Then Gran would reach into his poisonous bag of tricks and call an option-pitch on 4th down deep in Cincinnati’s territory or substitute the quarterback for a 5’9″ Shaq Washington only to have the center shoot the ball over his head.

Not so this season, though. Gran’s been plum fantastic calling plays in his third season as the Bearcats’ offensive coordinator, never deviating from a simplistic approach to the offense. That’s something we implored this past offseason and it’s encouraging that Gran has turned the corner this year. He has a huge offensive line at his disposal as well as a pair of talented quarterbacks, a trio of bruising running backs, and just about as many secondary-torching wide receivers as any coach could ever dream of. So he’s simply just leaning on them and not over-complicating matters.

It’s resulted in Cincinnati ranking 4th in the country in total offense, averaging over 571 yards per game. Even Kelly’s high flying aerial attack of 2009 averaged 130 yards per game less than that. Now, UC’s struggled to turn those yards into actually points, averaging “only” 37.6 points per game this season. It’s reasonable to expect they should be scoring a touchdown more than that. Actually, it’s ridiculous that they don’t.

You can chalk that up to the flurry of turnovers this year, though, as in 11 lost fumbles (20th most in the country) and 18 interceptions thrown (6th most). Coaches can prepare as much as they want during the week but it’s 100% on the players to execute. Gran isn’t throwing passes into triple coverage, Gunner Kiel is. He also isn’t being careless with the football, his running backs and quarterbacks are.

At the end of the day, the numbers Gran’s consistent top 50 offenses have put up over the past three seasons speak for themselves, enough so that several athletic directors should be taking notice. They probably won’t be from Power Five programs, as progressing from the offensive coordinator at a Group of Five school to the head coach in a major conference rarely happens. But with Group of Five head coaches such as Dino Babers at Bowling Green, Jeff Brohm at Western Kentucky, and Matt Campbell at Toledo on several wish lists, Gran could very well be the man to fill their shoes. He would certainly bring an exciting brand of football to the table with contacts in the Southeast to pull in athletic recruits.

Who really knows if schools would be interested in Gran come December when the coaching carousel kicks off or if UC’s offensive coordinator would reciprocate that interest. At 50, he’s not exactly young but he’s not old either. Gran can probably wait a couple of years for the right opportunity but it’s safe to say his stock will never be higher than it is right now. He interviewed for the UAB position after the 2013 season and thankfully for his career didn’t get it but there could be more lucrative jobs available in just a few weeks. Not, you know, death knells like the Blazers were around this time two years ago.

If Eddie Gran winds up moving onwards and upwards from Cincinnati, I’d expect (hope) quarterback’s coach Darin Hinshaw receives a well-deserved promotion. But that’s a bridge we’ll cross if we have to.